This comes right after the Trump administration dialled down on some of the scariest tariffs it slapped on its ally just weeks ago. Call it tariff diplomacy.

Recall that Trump flew into the APEC summit recently, where he was warmly welcomed by President Lee Jae-myung, but basically said “nice cars and tech you’ve got there… it would just be nicer if more of that cash landed in America.”

So, Seoul blinked first.

So what exactly got cheaper?

Cars and auto parts are the main star of the show. The threatened 25% tariff is now locked at 15 %. And that’s an instant $4-5 billion annual gift to Hyundai and Kia. 💰

Semiconductors are big winners too. Samsung and SK Hynix won’t face anything worse than whatever Taiwan eventually negotiates (probably around 10-15% at most instead of 25%).

Pharmaceuticals and aircraft parts will also be mostly capped at 15 % or zero.

But steel and aluminum? Eh… Still painful, as not much relief there but quota-protected.

Big names from the South Korean market celebrated the occasion, many announcing major investments already in the works.

Samsung is throwing another $44 billion at its Texas chip complex (yes, the one already bigger than Manhattan). Meanwhile, SK Group, not to be outdone, promised $88 billion across AI chips, batteries, and energy.

Hyundai Motor Group is also accelerating its $21 billion EV and steel push in Georgia and Alabama, while shipbuilding giants Hanwha and HD Hyundai pledged up to $40 billion combined to help Trump glow up the American yards in Philly and Newport News. 👷

Even state-owned KOGAS is signing 20-25 year LNG contracts worth tens of billions to get more access to that valuable American gas.

All this amounts to billions in tax revenue for swing states, with Korean executives breathing massive sighs of relief that their US exports won’t get crushed in the Trump 2.0 era.

Seoul is framing it as “win-win strategic partnership.” Washington calls it “America First, but with friends who pay up.”

Either way, the Korean stock exchange saw a nice bump in the morning following the news while the won had its best day in months. Individual companies, such as Hyundai also saw significant jumps upon their announcements.

And judging how quick Korean companies were to react, it seems like this is only the start to a very valuable economic partnership. 🤝